November 7, 2026 · 12:06 pm

Book Review: House Standoff, Mike Lawson

In this book, we follow the story of Shannon Doyle, with whom Joe DeMarco had a short relationship in the previous book, House Privilege. Doyle’s book became a best-seller, and she moved to California, leaving DeMarco behind.

The story picks up with Doyle being murdered in a small Wyoming town, while researching her next book. DeMarco reads about this in the paper, and immediately sets out to find out more – he does not buy the local sheriff’s story that a passing trucker likely killed her, and he heads to Wyoming himself.

Once in Wyoming, Joe DeMarco finds himself an unwanted stranger as he pokes into the private business of Deputy Jim Turner, Hiram Bunt the local landowner (whose standoff with the government over grazing fees brought Doyle to the town), Bunt’s beautiful young wife Lisa – and the mysterious cafe owner, Harriet.

DeMarco calls Tommy Hewlett for backup, and faces off against the suspects, using himself as bait to draw them out. This is quite a transformation from DeMarco in the early books, who shunned his father’s violent reputation and was hardly in a fight.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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November 7, 2026 · 11:40 am

Book Review: House Privilege, Mike Lawson

Joe DeMarco’s boss, John Mahoney (Speaker of the House), has a goddaughter. Cassie is 15, and the child of one of his rich constituents. Sadly, her parents died when their private plane crashed due to loss of oil pressure. Even sadder, Cassie is now under the care of Mahoney – and he dispatched Joe to look out for her until wife Mary Pat is able to step in.

Another sudden death occurs due to a shooting, in which Cassie’s trust’s auditor is murdered. DeMarco starts to connect the dots and wonder if the plane crash might not have been accident. Perhaps Erin Kelly, the trust fund manager, has something to hide, especially when she suddenly leaves the country and millions go missing.

Meanwhile, DeMarco meets Shannon Doyle, an author who works in a bar. He asks her out and he takes her to ice hockey. He also investigates Tommy Hewlett, a former driver for Mahoney who is blackmailing him

DeMarco still loves golf and is a generally lazy man, but in this book he certainly shows growth, deciding for himself that justice needs to be done, and taking control of situations where in the past he needed help from his friend Emma.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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October 16, 2026 · 9:47 am

Book Review: One Enchanted Evening, Anton Du Beke

I spotted this book whilst browsing during the closing down sale at TG Jones (formerly WH Smith) on the High Street. At £2, it was too tempting, given Anton Du Beke’s legendary status as a Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer and judge (I’m a fan of ballroom dancing anyway). This is the author’s debut novel, and he mentions his writing collaborator in the acknowledgements.

The book is set in the 1930’s, as we follow the fortunes of Nancy Nettleton, Helene Marchmont and Raymond De Guise at the Buckingham Hotel, London. The hotel is known for its grand ballroom, with Helene and Raymond the principal dancers (so it’s good to see the author writing what he knows!). Nancy is a newly appointed chambermaid from ‘oop north, who has a leg disability but wishes to learn to dance.

The premise of the story is that everyone who works at The Buckingham is a family, and everyone has secrets. Some have shady family backgrounds and changed their names to escape their past. Others have secret relationships, and others still have secrets of a clandestine nature. There is also historical background in the rise of fascism and anti-Semitism, even in London.

I was quite charmed by this book, which had more depth and detail than I expected. Clearly the author had been mapping out the plot for some time before the opportunity to bring it to life came along. He has written several more books with the same characters, so despite the £2 knock down price it must have sold some copies!

⭐⭐⭐

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October 2, 2026 · 9:40 am

Book Review: Fair Warning Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly regularly mentions his other characters when writing a book, and in The Proving Ground he mentions Jack McEvoy’s earlier adventure, Fair Warning.  I didn’t think I had read that one, so I bought a nice hard back copy from World of Books. However, some of the passages felt familiar, and it turned out not only had I read it, but I had a paperback copy on my book shelf!

In this thriller, journalist Jack McEvoy finds himself under suspicion of murdering a woman with whom he’d had a date some time ago. Whilst innocent, he is intrigued and finds a link between her murder and her research into her family tree through a genetic data company. From there, her uncovers several more cases of women who suffered broken necks in supposed accidents, and who were customers of the same company.

This book also charts the torrid waters of his relationship with Rachel Walling, formerly of the FBI. They work together on this case, and rekindle their romance – but only for as long as Jack can put off his habit of relationship-sabotage.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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September 20, 2026 · 8:57 am

Book Review: House Arrest, Mike Lawson

This is book 13 in Lawson’s Joe DeMarco series. In this thriller, DeMarco faces jail time having been framed for the murder of one of Mahoney’s political rivals.

I love how the author is prepared to take risks like this: much of the book centers on Emma (rather than DeMarco who is in jail or in hospital), as she leads the investigation to clear DeMarco’s name; Lawson puts his whole series in jeopardy, because the shady link between DeMarco and Mahoney has been exposed, so how can DeMarco have a job going forwards?

Excellent book – passed my test of being 100% absorbing, which is measured by how far I get on my commute home by train before I look up to see where I am. Fortunately, I finished the book, just as the train pulled into my home station.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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September 20, 2026 · 8:45 am

Book Review: Hope Rises, David Baldacci

Perhaps this book should have been called Hope Dashed. I really enjoyed the first in this series, and went straight into reading the sequel. Sadly, it felt like this was a book too far – it would have been better to add one more chapter to the previous book: kill master criminal Victoria Steers to avenge his daughter’s death; kill Rhett Temple for having an affair with Nash’s wife – revenge achieved. Instead, we endure a book where the author tries to convince us that, despite all her violence and fearsome reputation in the first book, Victoria is just misunderstood and damaged by tough parenting.

I was hoping that there would be a swift and devastating conclusion to the previous plot, with revenge exacted quite understandably by Nash, giving his cosy life was ruined by Steers and Temple. And then, I imagined Nash continuing as a special agent for the FBI, combining his high intelligence and attention to detail with new lethal skills, learned during his transformation into Dillon Hope.

Instead, the story followed an unlikely redemption arc, which was as long as it was unsatisfying.

⭐⭐

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September 4, 2026 · 9:25 am

Book Review: Nash Falls, David Baldacci

Walter Nash has everything – a high-flying corporate job, huge property, beautiful wife and loving daughter. Ok, he has a fractured relationship with his father, but we learn about that as the story progresses and really that was no fault of his own.

What would happen if such a man was uprooted from his comfortable life and given a fresh start, following in the footsteps of his father, an army veteran and true man’s man? Would he sink or swim? That’s the premise of this book, and Baldacci does a convincing job of showing how, step-by-step, Nash could transform his body and mind to becoming an avenger for his former life.

After an average start, this book really picked up and I’ve already ordered the sequel, Hope Rises.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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August 18, 2026 · 10:58 am

Book Review: House Witness

Another lovely hardback first edition from World of Books, this one originally from Springfield City Library. As ever, I do hope this book was responsibly sourced and not cashed in by a library borrower.

This thriller is one of the best in the Joe DeMarco series, partly because he isn’t the central character (!). That’s no disrespect to DeMarco, I just love it when an author introduces a new character and runs with the story in a new direction.  Ella Fields stars in this book, a beautiful blonde who reinvents herself after an underwhelming education, and finds herself an expert jury consultant. Or rather, she is a specialist in making sure witnesses don’t turn up at trial or change their story to favour the defense.

DeMarco has been directed with ensuring that Toby Rosenthal is convicted of murder, having shot a man 3 times in a bar. That man turned out to be an unacknowledged son of Mahoney, DeMarco’s boss. Yet, Toby’s dad is rich and can afford to engage Ella’s services, and she sets about twisting the stories of the witnesses.

The author’s note is revealing – he thought of this plot upon hearing that a murder trial was starting 4 years after the deed. What could happen in that time? I also like to think that some of DeMarco’s character is taken from the author (both keen golfers) and the handsome, irresistable Bill Cantwell, Ella’s partner, might be who the author is or would love to be.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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August 18, 2026 · 10:42 am

Book Review: Christine Falls, John Banville

This book introduces Quirke, a pathologist based in Dublin. He is a troubled man, perhaps because he appears to have no first name, being referred to as Quirke throughout.

Quirke is successful (a well regarded pathologist in a senior position), but miserable. We learn that his wife died years ago, he has a fractious relationship with Malachy his ‘brother’ in his adopted family. He yearns after Sarah, and wishes he had married her instead of her sister Delia. He is close to niece Phoebe in a wicked uncle role, while she is increasingly estranged from her parents.

This thriller is centered on a poor woman, Christine Falls, who died in childbirth. Her baby, named after her, is taken to America and adopted there. Quirke slowly investigates this child trafficking, whilst we also follow the baby’s life with new parents, Andy Stafford (no relation to Strafford, Banville’s other detective). This investigation is strongly discouraged by Malachy and his father, and Quirke is badly beaten up by thugs to dissuade him from continuing.

A bleak book, with such a wretched character as Quirke, who despite it all is endearing to read. The quality of writing is excellent.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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July 24, 2026 · 10:10 am

Book Review: State of Fear, Michael Crichton

This book sets off with a great start, as a young physicist is seduced by a beautiful women with a keen interest in his research in waves – and then murders him.

Sadly, a lot of the rest of the book fails to live up to that promising start. Who is the main character? Initially it seems that it will be George Morton, the environmental philanthropist, but he goes missing, presumed dead. Will it be Sarah his beautiful, gifted assistant? Or Peter Evans his lawyer? Not really, they are part of the narrative for sure, but seem to be riding the wave of the story rather than being central to it. Neither becomes a compelling reason to keep reading, rooting for that character – neither is shown with much depth of feeling.

Ostensibly, this book is concerned with Climate Change, and with Crichton’s usual style of making his work of fiction seem like a documentary, this book is in my view highly controversial. He seems to be a climate change denier, and his characters make strong arguments against any evidence of climate change throughout the book. Writing this from England in the midst of another record-breaking heatwave, hotter and longer than last year’s record-breaking heatwaves, I have to disagree with him.

⭐⭐

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